Dave Reid, Vice president Cardiff Trades Union Council
“I have a message for Plaid. We are going nowhere. We will not bow down. You lied!”
So said Cwm Taf Morgannwg health visitor rep, Kerry Parry, at the latest lobby of the Senedd (Welsh parliament) to mark 30 weeks of strike action.
120 workers, members of Unite, have been on strike since February, for their job evaluation at Band 7 to be paid by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. “We have been out in winter coats, T-shirts and now raincoats, but we’re not giving in,” promised Gemma Emanuel.
Incredibly, the strike is just as solid as at the beginning – in fact, more workers have joined.
Before May, it was the Labour health minister who refused to intervene to ensure the health visitors received their fair pay.
In opposition, Plaid Cymru castigated them and, when challenged, promised to ensure that when they were elected they would pay the rate. Now in government, the Plaid health minister is nowhere to be seen and still the health visitors have not been put on the right rate. Plaid lied.
Unite the Union has supported the workers, but now the wider trade union movement in Wales must step up. Our movement has to show the Plaid Cymru government that it cannot just ignore workers fighting for pay justice nor workers’ rights across Wales. The trade union movement must step up the fight for fair pay.
Cardiff Trades Union Council is calling for TUC Cymru/Wales to call a national demonstration on a Saturday to demand that the Welsh government intervene to ensure pay justice for Cwm Taf Morgannwg health visitors. It should be linked to the demand for pay increases in the public sector in Wales to keep pace with cost-of-living increases.
Workers in Wales should not pay for the crisis in Welsh public finances. The fight for pay for Cwm Taf health visitors is the first blow in the struggle for fair pay for all Welsh public sector workers.
